Brodie Rowe, Unbeknownst (DOCUMENTARY & STREET 2026)

For years I passed these old stone buildings and I’d say to myself, "One day I’m going to stop and photograph them.” That day arrived after a series of events led me back to the buildings while retracing a journey, in search of an emerald crystal I’d both, purchased and lost the previous evening when travelling home from a music festival. Devastated, I woke determined to find it — even if it meant retracing the entire three-hour journey, stop by stop. Fortunately, my incessant need to take photographs had left me with photographic evidence of almost everywhere I’d been. My morning began early, with the sun only just rising. As I took my freeway exit, peregrine falcons appeared against the sunrise with the You Yangs as their backdrop. When they began circling above those familiar old buildings, I thought to myself, "That’s it. Today's the day, I’m stopping to take those photographs" I had admired these beautiful old stone buildings with such curiosity since I was a very young girl, always wondering who had lived there, what conversations had taken place within those walls, the families who had come and gone, and what stories the old stone might hold. What began as an attempt to photograph the falcons became something more. As they flew over the buildings, Australian wildlife emerged from within the old walls and roof. The buildings looked abandoned. They weren’t. They had new residents who had quietly made them their home. I took my photographs and continued searching for my lost emerald. Trusting my instincts and following the falcons along my journey, I eventually found it outside a garden centre at one forgotten stop from the previous evening. Finding what I’d lost held a meaning far greater than I could have realised in that moment, for had I not lost it, I wouldn't have retraced my journey and captured the pictures. Within days, the buildings were gone. My photographs now preserve a moment in the history of this landscape — a record of the buildings as they once stood and the wildlife who'd made them home. Unbeknownst to me, I’d captured them in their final days. Now you see it. Now you don’t.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.